1. Technical Field
This invention relates to the field of exit illumination and, more particularly, to illumination of safe exit doorways, windows, stairs or other safe exit portholes or other portals of an enclosed or semi-enclosed structure, such as a private residence, to help evacuees/occupants more swiftly and safely evacuate such a structure in the event of a fire, heavy smoke event, earthquake, security breach, and/or the presence of unsafe levels of hazardous gasses or other fumes or any other emergency. The invention also relates to the materials, articles and processes used for exit illumination systems, as well as to how and when to use the same.
2. Background Art.
“According to the Federal Emergency Management Association (FEMA), more people die annually in the United States from fires than all other natural disasters combined . . . ”
People regularly become quickly confused and disoriented in building structures under siege by fire, smoke and other perilous situations. In particular, when building structures are on fire or are otherwise experiencing a heavy smoke event from smoldering materials, smoke fills the building structure, floor by floor, space by space, from the ceiling down toward the floor. That is, smoke first fills areas overhead, closest to the ceiling, and as a space fills with smoke, the floor levels are the last areas to become visually occluded by smoke.
In residential settings, there are typically no means by which an evacuee(s) can identify a safe exit doorway or other portal as most residential structures are not required to provide “EXIT” signage above or near the safe exit doorways.
In commercial settings, where “EXIT” signage is typically required, those signs are less than ideal once a fire has begun and the resulting smoke begins to quickly fill the structure. Because of the way that smoke fills a building structure (described above), “EXIT” signs, which by code are often required to be affixed “above” an exit portal, are the first and primary luminary devices to provide safety knowledge to evacuees and, regrettably, are one of the first things to disappear from sight during fire and heavy smoke. Obviously, an “EXIT” sign above a doorway which is invisible to evacuees is relatively useless as it can no longer successfully impart the knowledge that it was intended to pass along to such evacuee(s) in the crisis due to its occlusion by the increasingly-dense smoke in the areas proximate to its installation.
Currently, it is exceptionally rare to find a private residential setting wherein any lighted signage is used to identify a safe exit door. In commercial settings, where such signage is required by law, current “EXIT” sign location/placement is generally accepted primarily because the location of the sign is “out of the way” and is generally clear of passers-by, cleaning and maintenance staff's vacuum cleaners, carts, hand-trucks moving goods into and out of the building structure and other normal use of the building structure that could damage, break or otherwise disable the device. Notwithstanding the safe place for such signage to be installed and to be maintained, the location is one of the worst places for its intended purpose during smoke and fire events.
Statistics and facts regarding structure fires in the US directly related to the need for the preferred embodiments of the invention are as follows:                According to the Unites States Fire Administration, “approximately 2,865 people die in residential fires every year.” That is the equivalent of the 9/11 life loss tally every year.        Per FireHouse.com, “on average, 8 people die every day in the United States in residential fires. It is estimated that 75 percent of ALL fire related deaths are due to smoke inhalation brought about by disorientation.”        One of the most heart-wrenching statistics is that “more than 40 percent of residential fire related deaths among children, ages 9 and younger, occur when the child is frantically attempting to escape his/her own house.”        “Every 20 seconds, a fire department responds to a fire somewhere in the United States.”        “Once a minute, a fire occurs in a structure.”        “Home is the place where you feel safest. But your home is also where you are most likely to die in a fire. Four out of five fire-related deaths among civilians occur in the home.”        “Today, people who die in fires typically die in ones and twos, in their own homes and vehicles.”        “In 2007, U.S. fire departments responded to 399,000 home structure fires. These fires caused 13,600 civilian injuries, 2,865 civilian deaths, $7.4 billion in direct damage,” based on data reported to NFPA's annual National Fire Experience Survey.        “Most fire deaths are not caused by burns, but by smoke inhalation.”        “As a fire grows inside a building structure, it will often consume most of the available oxygen, slowing the burning process. This “incomplete combustion” results in toxic gases.”        “In addition to producing smoke, fire can incapacitate or kill by reducing oxygen levels, either by consuming the oxygen, or by displacing it with other gases. Heat is also a respiratory hazard, as superheated gases burn the respiratory tract. When the air is hot enough, one breath can kill.”        It is projected that one out of every 5 homes in the U.S. will have a fire, burglary, or carbon monoxide poisoning in the next 6 years. “Homes” includes dwellings, duplexes, manufactured homes (also called mobile homes), apartments, row-houses, townhouses and condominiums. Other residential structures, such as hotels and motels, dormitories, barracks, rooming and boarding homes, and the like, are not included in this statistic.        
Analogous challenges are presented in virtually any type of disaster or emergency situation that requires immediate evacuation of a building structure, whether due to fire, flood or earthquake, or whether due to human threat such as a security breach, hazardous gas release, terrorist attack, bomb threat or the like.
Some have tried to overcome such challenges and problems by designing creative exit lighting systems, but their attempts have fallen far short of the ideal. Among those are the inventors of the following patents: U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,794,373, 5,130,909, 5,343,375, 5,418,523, 5,612,665, 5,755,016, 5,815,068, 6,025,773, 6,237,266, 6,646,545, 7,114,826, 7,255,454 and 7,391,319.